Introduction

Abstract

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) is a general term for a class of bacteria that use the metabolism of carbohydrates in the external environment to produce lactic acid. Lactic acid bacteria are widely distributed in nature and exist in a variety of habitats. Extremely rich in biodiversity, they are closely related to human production and life and have important social and economic value. They are valuable biological resources for human beings. The utilization of lactic acid bacteria by human beings has a very long history. According to reliable archaeological evidence, it can be dated back to more than 10,000 years ago. In the long historical process, the utilization of lactic acid bacteria has made outstanding contributions to the development and practice of human society. In the great development of human natural science and engineering science in the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century, along with the rapid development of biological science, microbiology, and other related disciplines, the science and technology of lactic acid bacteria also achieved unprecedented development. On the one hand, in terms of basic science, lactic acid fermentation is adopted as a model metabolic method. Lactic acid bacteria are mode research organisms of basic biological sciences such as microbiology, biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology, which have important theoretical research significance. On the other hand, in practical application, lactic acid bacteria have a wide range of application significance in industrial biomanufacturing, food production and processing, high-efficiency agriculture, high-efficiency livestock breeding, medical health, and other important fields closely related to human beings. In recent years, the application of new technologies and new methods such as microbiome, proteomics, bioinformatics, and big data analysis technology has further revealed the great importance of lactic acid bacteria in related fields and attracted the researchers from different research fields. In Fig. 1.1, the number of publications on the research of lactic acid bacteria science and technology has grown significantly during the last 10 years of the twentieth century to the first 10 years of the twenty-first century. It has become a major research and application development hotspot of modern science and application technology.